The Interislander ferry Kaitaki. Photo: Supplied / KiwiRail
Passengers on the ferry Kaitaki have spent the night on board in Wellington harbour due to problems with the the ship's steering, Interislander says.
The Kaitaki, which sailed from the capital for Picton at 8.30pm yesterday, returned to Wellington and remained anchored in the harbour after developing issues with its steering just outside of the Wellington heads.
"It retained full steering control, via backup systems," an Interislander spokesman said in a statement.
With tugs being unavailable, the ship's master decided on safety grounds it would not berth at Kaiwharawhara.
The tugs became available around 7am today and Kaitaki is now at the berth.
"There were only a small number of passengers onboard, primarily commercial vehicle drivers. Each was provided a cabin for the night," Interislander said.
Its engineers were working to fix the issue and there would be delays to some sailings today as a result.
"We held this morning's Aratere sailing so it could take some of the passengers."
It apologised to the passengers for the disruption and was working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
Some passengers were transferred to an Aratere sailing this morning.
Engineers are working to fix the steering problem and there will be delays to some sailings today as a result.
Wellington harbourmaster Grant Nalder said it was precautionary measure for the ferry to anchor in the harbour overnight.
"Because they were on their back-up system, they wanted a tug to assist them with berthing and because of other work that was on, the soonest a tug was available was this morning, so they anchored overnight and they berthed this morning," Nalder said.
A passenger waiting to board the delayed Aratere sailing this morning told RNZ the ferries were becoming more and more unreliable.
"We've been travelling for 20 years across the strait and the last two years probably, particularly this last year, has been really bad," she said.
KiwiRail, which runs the ferry service, apologised to passengers for the disruption and said it was working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.